


i swear i don't love the drama, it loves me

by AnotherShipper



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Childhood best friends to strangers to lovers, F/F, lowkey inspired by dynasty, may feature other groups, may feature other ships, rich people's problems, song: End Game (Taylor Swift)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:34:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26210461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherShipper/pseuds/AnotherShipper
Summary: Minji and Handong have many things in common, like being the heirs to two of the biggest companies of the country, but they also have so many differences.Could something blossom within them or will the weight of their reputations make them crash and burn?
Relationships: Han Dong | Handong/Kim Minji | JiU
Comments: 67
Kudos: 103
Collections: DreamCatcher Taylor Swift Ficfest 2k20





	1. in rumors i’m knee-deep

**Author's Note:**

> based on taylor swift's end game
> 
> disclaimer; english is not my first language.

The only good thing about all those boring business galas were the after parties; not that Handong necessarily attended them all but sometimes she just couldn’t say no to Gahyeon’s puppy eyes.

So here she was, in an underground club surrounded by the elite of the country, drinking some fancy craft beer while dressed to the nines.

Her eyes scanned the crowd and at the sight of all those sweaty bodies on the dance floor she shuddered, this was so not her scene.

“Live a little, Dongie”, Yoohyeon, her other best friend, nudged her with her shoulder.

Handong rolled her eyes and took a sip of her beer, “I didn’t come here to enjoy myself, I’m only here because Gahyeon promised to stop trying to steal my Ferrari if I came”

Yoohyeon looked at her incredulously, “As if you don’t lend it to her every time she asks”

Her friend was right, Handong always gave Gahyeon everything she wanted, from clothes to food to weird hang out activities, whatever Gahyeon wanted, Handong gave it to here. It was the least she could do for the one that had always been by her side through the worst times of her life, even though Handong had been weirded out by Gahyeon’s sunny and outgoing personality, the youngest proved that her friendship was true and she wasn’t in it for Handong’s reputation. Gahyeon didn’t see her as just the heir of Han Consolidate, but as just Dongie.

“You know her puppy eyes always get me”, Handong smiled at her friend, while they both looked at Gaheyon dancing with a stranger.

“What about mine?”, Yoohyeon pouted at Handong and blinked several times trying to seem cute, making Handong choke on her drink.

While Handong tried to get back her bearings with Yoohyeon laughing at her, Gahyeon came back to the table and downed her drink in one go.

“What’s so funny?”, she leaned against Handong and wiped her sweaty forehead on her clothes.

Handong pushed her away with a disgusted look on her face, “You’re so gross”

“You love me anyway”, Gahyeon stuck her tongue out at her.

They bickered for a while until Yoohyeon’s loud gasp interrupted them.

“Is that JiU?”, she pointed at the dance floor, making all of them gaze to the blonde woman she was pointing at, “I didn’t know she was back?”

“I thought she was backpacking through Europe?”

“I heard her family send her to the US for a while as a punishment for sleeping with the daughter of Cube’s CEO and breaking her heart, thus ruining a big business deal?”

Handong’s eyes tried to focus on said woman’s face, trying to figure out if she new her from somewhere, but the distance was making it tricky for her.

“Who is JiU?”

Her question shocked her friends, how could Handong not know who JiU was? But then again, once they thought about it, it didn’t seem that weird; Handong was never one for gossip and she preferred to bury herself in work and trying to make Han Consolidated the number one communications company out there than socializing, in fact, if it weren’t for Yoohyeon’s and Gahyeon’s constant begging and effort, she wouldn’t make it out of the office most days, if they hadn’t forced her to be roommates with them, she would have probably made an apartment somewhere in the company’s building so she would always be there.

“She’s the heir to Kim Global Union”

“I thought the heir was Yeri?”

“Well, she’s while JiU is… undisposed”

“Undisposed? More like unwhiling”, Gahyeon murmured under her breath.

The trio watched as JiU danced happily between two beautiful women, so immersed where they in her that they didn’t notice the figure approaching their table until hands slammed forcefully on it, making them jump on their places.

“Bora! You asshole!”, Yoohyeon pushed the newcomer, who only laughed at them.

“You should have seen your faces!”, she sat down on the table and flashed the trio her best smile, “Fancy meeting you here”

Handong looked at her seriously before her face broke into a smile, “We thought we would never see your ugly face around here after what happened at the last party”

Bora gasped and placed a hand on her chest, “My ugly face? You wound me, Dongie”

Before Bora could start bickering with Handong, Yoohyeon’s voice interrupted them “They seem to be very good friends”, she pointed with her head back at JiU and one of the women dancing with her; the other occupants of the table followed her gaze and found JiU kissing the woman.

“I don’t think they’re just friends”, Gahyeon pointed out while Yoohyeon blushed, “You don’t kiss your friends like that”

The taller girl nodded furiously, “You’re right”.

Bora shared a look with Handong before saying, “Halloween 2016”, those words made Yoohyeon choke on air and start coughing, her face turned a deeper shade of red, while Bora and Handong shared a high give and Gahyeon looked at them with confusion.

The four talked and drank a bit more, their main topic of conversation was JiU, how she was always on the tabloids for all the crazy things she got into and her never ending list of conquests, the more she heard about this Jiu, the more Handong was intrigued by her, since she had never crossed paths with her or the other members of the Kim Global Union since they ran in different business circles.

Handong got up to stretch a bit and left her friends behind with the promise of getting more drinks, she gave one last look over the dance floor trying to find the woman that was apparently in the mouth of everyone but couldn’t find her again.

 _Maybe it’s for the best_ , Handong thought while she waited at the bar. It wouldn’t do her any good to get distracted by someone that she didn’t know and that seemed to be the complete opposite of who she was, _no matter how gorgeous she was._

Her thoughts were interrupted by a body leaning next to her, trying to get the bartender’s attention.

 _Oh, it’s her_ , Handong’s eyes swept over JiU’s figure, she was even more beautiful up close; it seemed like the other woman didn’t come directly from the gala, if her ripped jeans were any indication.

So immersed was Handong in looking over JiU that she didn’t notice how the other woman smirked at the attention.

“You can take a picture, it’ll last longer”

Handong almost blushed at being called out, but years of practice had helped her perform her calm and collected persona, they didn’t call her “The Ice Queen” for nothing.

“I was just wondering what brand your jeans were from”

JiU looked at her with amusement, she leaned over and whispered into Handong’s ear, “You could always follow me and find out”.

Handong felt a hand trail over her arm, and if she were anyone else she would have probably fallen for the blonde girl’s tactics, but after everything she had heard tonight she knew that the woman in front of her was bad news.

She pushed the blonde away, “Thanks but no thanks, I like my life STD free”, her words seemed to stun the other woman into silence, the blonde had been so sure the woman in front of her would fall into her arms without blinking, since she had seen her and her friends watching her a while back.

Before the blonde could respond, Handong took the drinks she had ordered and left, without sparing another glance at JiU.

“Ah, it seems like the mighty had fallen”, a voice startled the blonde and broke her form the trance she was in.

“Shut up, Siyeon”, JiU shoved her friend away from her.

“You could always shut her up like you did in the dance floor, Minji”, another voice joined the conversation from behind.

Two bodies leaned against her sides and followed her gaze, Handong had already arrived at her table and seemed to be telling her friends about the exchange they had just had, as they all tried (but failed) to subtly look her way.

“Gotta give it to you, never thought someone would have the balls to proposition Ice Queen over there”, Siyeon said while flagging the bartender for a drink.

“I heard the last person that tried was banned from every single restaurant and bar from the country”, their other friend, Yubin, pipped in.

“Didn’t she make some foreign prince cry once?”

“I thought she had slapped a prime minister when he got a little handsy with her?”

Siyeon and Yubin started telling all the rumors they had heard about, some sounded pretty credible while others seemed out of this world, so Minji took everything they said with a grain of salt since she knew how things functioned in their world.

There was something about her that seemed familiar to Minji, but she couldn’t figure out where she knew her from.

“Who is she?”

Her friends seemed to be surprised at the interruption, how could Minji not know the name of one of the most powerful women of the country? But then again, Minji had been abroad for the past few years.

“Are you living under a rock? How can you not know who the heir of Han Consolidated is?”

“She was number one of Forbes 30 under 30? One of the youngest CEO’s of the country?”

“Han Consolidated, you say?”, since her friends were once again talking a while to relay the exact information she asked for and went of a tangent talking about the other woman’s accomplishment, Minji decided to do a quick google search to find more about the woman that had stole her attention, it was not everyday that she was turned down.

As she scanned over the results, she finally saw the name of the current CEO of Han Consolidated, only one thought ran through her mind.

_Ah, Dongie, we meet again_


	2. got issues and chips on both my shoulders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the days have passed and time has turned but handong can't forget her encounter with jiu weeks ago.  
> what happens when they meet again?

It’s been almost two months since that night Handong would rather forget.

Not that anything bad had happened during that night per se, but there’s been this weird feeling hanging around her since her interaction with JiU, that she couldn’t seem to shake off, no matter how hard she tried to drown herself in work. 

After telling her friends what happened at the bar, they had just stared in disbelief, acting as if Handong had done something unimaginable. Which, according to them, she had done, cause according to everything they knew and had heard no one had ever turned down JiU.

She had tried to placate her friends and stop them from staring at the other woman but it was in vain, they were as subtle as an elephant trying to pass as a sheep; and even though she hadn’t turned around to see if JiU was staring at them, she knew her eyes were on her. 

(And Bora had told her that too in an attempt to get a reaction out of her.)

Handong knew it wasn’t healthy to try to drown her thoughts in work and alcohol and that she could try and talk to her friends about it but it’d probably end up in disaster: Yoohyeon would say something completely out of place in an attempt to distract her but end up making things awkward, Gahyeon would probably say what she needed but didn’t want to hear, and Bora would just tell her to get laid.

It wasn’t like she wouldn’t appreciate her friends attempts at helping her but sometimes they could be too much. 

* * *

_Once she came back to their table, her friends tried (but failed) to pretend like they hadn’t been watching Handong’s exchange with JiU from afar._

_“Oh Bora! You’re so funny!”, Yoohyeon said abnormally loud and fake laughed as soon as Handong was upon them._

_Bora and Gahyeon grimaced at Yoohyeon’s attempt to act natural and pretend they hadn’t been spying on their friend for the last five minutes._

_Instead of saying something to her friends, she just shook her head and placed their new drinks on the table and downed one of them in one go._

_“That bad?”, Bora scrunched her nose at the sight of Handong seemingly losing composure, in all her years of being friends with the CEO she had never seen her this shaken, it seemed like whatever had happened with JiU at the bar had really affected Handong._

_“She’s just…”, Handong really had no words to describe the encounter she had just had._

_The audacity of JiU, trying to proposition her after exchanging just a few words was something that she couldn’t wrap her mind around; after all, Handong was known for turning everyone down in the past since they just couldn’t reach the standards she had set, and that’s how she won the “Ice Queen” title after rejecting one too many. Nowadays, if anyone tried that with her they were either stupidly brave or a fool, however Handong couldn’t decide in which category JiU fell._

_“You could have slapped her like you did with Jackson”, Gahyeon pointed out._

_“Or you could have fallen into her charms”, Bora wiggled her brows, “I heard she’s amazing in bed”_

_Handong just rolled her eyes and ignored her friends' chatter as they stared unabashedly at JiU, abandoning the pretense of trying to be subtle._

_Soon enough they changed the topic as Yoohyeon accidentally spilled her drink over a guy that was passing by, she tried to apologize but the guy got so mad he threatened to get her banned from the club forever._

_(“As if he could”, Handong whispered to Bora, “I’ll just buy it and ban_ him _forever”_

_Bora was about to dare her to do it when Gahyeon, seemingly fed up with the guy, just took Yoohyeon by the hand and pulled her to the exit, yelling “we’re leaving” as she passed them by._

_Knowing better than to go against their youngest, they left the guy fuming behind, not without Bora flipping him off one last time._

_And as they walked to the exit, they were unaware of one curious pair eyes watching them leave)._

* * *

It was yet another boring business gala and though Handong had wanted to send her CFO Wheein in her steed, her continuous absence would surely be noticed and talked about, rumours would surely fly about the reason behind it, and surely, none of them would paint her in a good light.

When her friends asked about her absence during their weekly hangouts, Handong would simply wave them off and say the company was going through their busiest quarter of the year and she had to oversee everything. It seemed plausible enough that they couldn’t really call her out on it.

(Even though it was kinda true, since they had acquired a new radio station and the paperwork had been abysmal, Handong tried to bury deep down inside of her the dangerous thoughts about the blonde woman that just wouldn’t leave her mind and that she _did…_

...not (definitely _not_ ) want to see ever again).

So here she was, pretending to be interested in whatever the old businessmen in front of her were saying while being bored to death on the inside. As much as the desire to leave this place overwhelmed her, she couldn’t deny the importance of making herself and her company known.

As one of the few women in power in this country, everyone was looking at her through a lens, waiting for her to fail and prove to them that “ _a woman like her wasn’t fit to handle a corporation as big as Han Consolidated”_ and that everything she had accomplished so far wasn’t on her own merits but “ _everything was handled to her in a silver plate”_.

While usually it seemed like nothing could get Handong down, deep down, past her cold and seemingly unwavering facade, she struggled with the feeling of not being enough.

(That’s why she worked her ass off and basically lived in her office, a habit both Yoohyeon and Gahyeon constantly tried -but failed- to break).

Before she could continue down that train of thought, a hand on her arm got her attention.

“Miss Han, the head editor of Daze Magazine is looking for you”

“Excuse me, gentleman, as much as I would like to continue with this…”, Handong smiled coily at the men in front of her, “... _delightful_ conversation, the work of a CEO never stops”, the _you wouldn’t understand it_ went unspoken.

The men nodded in agreement but the jealousy they felt over her status could be felt in the atmosphere.

With one last goodbye, Handong left arm in arm with the woman that interrupted her.

“It would have been more believable if you actually knew who the head editor of the magazine was”

“Pff…I know it is…Min…”, her hesitation made Handong laugh, “...something-something?”

“Bora, how can you not know the name of your biggest competitor?” 

“Daze Magazine is _technically_ one of Yoohyeon’s biggest competitors, not mine. Just because I invest my money on Brave Mag, doesn’t mean I have to deal with it”.

Sometimes Handong couldn’t believe the words that came out of Bora’s mouth; they were clearly complete opposites of each other, and maybe that’s why they got along so well. 

Bora shoulder-checked Handong softly, “Also, where’s my _thank you so much Bora for saving me from those vultures? I don’t know what I would do without you_?”, her voice went down a few octaves and she tried to sound disinterested in a failed attempt of imitating Handong’s business voice.

“I don’t talk like that”, Handong lightly pushed Bora away, but the shorter woman kept a strong hold on her arm, “but thank you, I was about to pull my hair off.”

They continued their chitchatter as they made their way to the lonliest looking bar -among the ten or so that were scattered around the venue- and as they waited for their drinks, their small talk turned into a game of trying to find the best and worst dressed of the night.

“ _Fancy meeting you here_ ”

A voice coming from their left interrupted their game, both women were shocked -for completely different reasons- at the people standing next to them. 

JiU smirked once she got Handong’s attention and saw the redhead’s eyes subtly looking her up and down.

The blonde woman was wearing a navy blue three piece suit that fitted her like a glove, a very sharp contrast to what she was wearing the last time they saw each other.

For a moment, Handong was in awe of her beauty, she couldn’t deny that JiU was really attractive and made her _feel_ something; but then the blonde had to open her mouth and ruin everything.

“If you’re still afraid of STDs let me assure you I got tested today and I’m a hundred percent clean”, the smug voice and the annoying ( _but attractive_ , her mind betrayed her) wink that was sent her way made her forget all those good feelings she was having. 

The blue haired woman next to JiU chuckled and tried to high five her, but the blonde left her hanging, making her pout. 

Handong rolled her eyes at the childish display in front of her, she turned back to Bora but found an empty space where she should have been.

 _Weird_ , she thought, _I wonder where she disappeared to and why, but that’ll have to wait._

It seemed like JiU was still waiting for a (good or bad) response from her, but as she looked at her stupidly annoying (and gorgeous) face, Handong took her and Bora’s abandoned drinks and walked away.

Sometimes the best comeback was not giving a response, leaving the other one wanting for a confrontation that they’d never get.

“Dude”, Siyeon looked at Handong’s retreating form in awe, then turned to a -once again- stunned Minji, “She walked away from you...again”.

Her surprise turned into amusement as she thought of the situation Minji was in, never in all their years of friendship had she seen Minji being turned down this way, not once but _twice_.

Siyeon’s laugh brought Minji back to the present, her shove did nothing to shut her best friend up.

“Wait till Yubin hears about this! Oh man, she’s going to be so mad she missed this! The first gala she misses since you started showing up to every single one of them after _that_ afterparty and _this_ happens!”

Even though she was still trying and failing to shut Siyeon up, Minji’s eyes never stopped following Handong’s form since she walked away ( _again!)_ from her. There had always been something about Handong that made her want to give and receive all her attention; and while when they were kids it had been childish love and admiration, she couldn’t deny that now that they were older, there was something about Handong that called to her.

Also, Handong had been the first woman in years to not fall into her charms.

That’s why she had been attending every business event that she could in hopes of seeing Handong again; something her friends knew and loved to tease her about.

“I can’t believe the great Kim Minji’s charms have failed once again, on the same woman no less”, while teasing Minji, Siyeon was also updating Yubin via text about what had happened mere minutes ago.

Minji rolled her eyes, “Maybe third time’s the charm”

Siyeon scoffed in disbelief, “Right, it seems to me like the _she_ wants absolutely _nothing_ to do with you”, the ping of an incoming message was heard, “Yubin says there’s no way you’ll ever get into _The Ice Queen’s_ _pants_ , that it’s impossible you’ll succeed, no matter how hard you try”, she snorted while typing back a quick response to their friend, “and I agree with her”.

There had always been something about being told that she _couldn’t_ do something that made Minji’s blood boil, the thought of being called a failure at something she was supposed to be good at tended to cloud her judgment and _that_ had always been her downfall. 

“Wanna bet?”

Her response seemed to surprise Siyeon, there was no way this could end up well, but if there was something that Siyeon loved where bets and this one was too good to pass up. 

“A bet, you say?”, she didn’t waste a second before texting Yubin the new development, who instantly texted back. “What about this, _when_ you fail, you’ll give me your house in Piri Forest and Yubin wants your race car collection”.

 _Oh,_ Minji thought, _we’re playing that way then._ After some thought, a lightbulb turned over her head. 

“I’ll make Handong fall for my charms, and _when_ I succeed, you’ll give me part of your Daze shares and Yubin has to give me ownership over Pandami Zoo”, to be honest Minji didn’t know why Siyeon had this weird obsession with Daze Magazine when there where better companies to invest her money in, but if her friends wanted to go after some of her most prized possessions, she would do the same.

It seemed like Siyeon was going to hesitate about the bet after hearing what was at stake, but another text from Dami made her confident in them winning. 

“But you don’t only have to sleep with her”, she stuck her hand out to Minji, “you have to _make her fall in love with you”._

Now it was Minji’s turn to hesitate for a second, could she really do it? If it had been about any other person she would have accepted in a second since she was confident in herself, but this was _Handong_ they were talking about.

Her gaze swept over the venue and even thought she wasn’t actually looking for Handong, their eyes connected for a second before Handong scoffed in disgust and looked away, her attention going back to the woman in front of her. 

_That_ second -and the subsequent reaction- was all it took for Minji’s decision to be made.

“Deal”, she shook Siyeon’s hand and with that, the deal was sealed and her life would forever be changed by the decisions that she would take in the future. 

For better _or for worse._

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for liking this fic so far, i hope you'll keep on liking what i've in store for this fic.
> 
> what's the deal with jidong's past? where did bora go? will minji succeed or will she lose one of her houses and her race car collection? keep reading to find out. 
> 
> you can also find me on tw: @anothershipper  
> cc:/anothershipper
> 
> btw i know i suck at updating but imma try my best to be more constant. tbh before joining kpop stan twitter i had written 0 fics in years cause i had lost all motivation and confidence in my work, but kpop gave it back to me haha
> 
> also, sorry for any mistakes this has been proofread like once but english aint my first language u.u


	3. there are no rules when you show up here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a surprise visit that almost ended in tragedy

After that second encounter, it seemed like all Handong could think about was  _ Kim JiU. _

She had been pretty tempted to google the shit out of that woman and learn everything she could about her, but that’s probably what  _ she _ wanted, and Handong would never give that extremely annoying ( _ and extremely gorgeous _ ) woman the satisfaction.

The weekend had come and gone, it had been surprisingly peaceful since Yoohyeon and Gahyeon had been busy with work, and Bora had been suspiciously silent. 

Come to think of it, Handong hadn’t heard from her friend since she left her alone at the gala. After her encounter with JiU, there had been no sign of Bora, and she had looked everywhere in the venue for her to no avail. 

The only sign of life that Bora had given her was a weird text that said “ _ sorry had 2 leave early, something came up” _ before going radio silent the whole weekend, which had been out of character of her since she was always bothering Handong with going to a party or the country club on weekends to unwind.

_ Whatever came up must be really important,  _ Handong thought as she made her way into Han Cosolidated’s building.

(The CEO was never going to admit it out loud, but her weekend did feel kind of empty without her loud friend’s presence).

After long hours spent between meetings and overseeing proposals and contracts, all those lingering thoughts about she-who-shall-not-be-named vanished from her mind. 

Ever since she was little, Handong used her work as an escape from the things she didn’t want to face. It was something that her friends always scolded her for, they were always worried about her workaholic ways; but Handong always told them that as one of the youngest CEOs in the country -and to top it off, being a woman- she had to work twice as harder than her male counterparts. Even though they understood her reasonings, they still couldn’t help but worry about her.

And while most of the time she maintained her ice cold facade and just rolled her eyes at her friends, their deep love for her never failed to warm her heart, even when their caring sometimes became a little too much. 

(Obviously, she’d never admit that out loud to them. They’d never let her hear the end of it).

The CEO was in the middle of reviewing some reports when her phone buzzed with an upcoming message, she was about to ignore since if it was really important, they’d call her. 

She kept working when her phone buzzed again. 

And again.

And again.

Handong pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, her concentration now broken. However, before she could unlock her phone, it started ringing.

_ ‘Can't lie, the sex fire when you in your feels (Woo) / Spice it up a little (Ooh) / Yeah, you know-’ _

“How many times have I told you  _ not _ to touch my phone? You-”

Handong was about to go off on the person on the other side of the phone when said person quickly interrupted her.

_ “Uhhhh… Don’t know, don’t care, just check your messages! Love you, bye!” _

The line went dead before Handong could say anything else. She rolled her eyes before finally checking her messages. 

**_[lil glucose baby]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ you.  _ _   
_ _ me.  _ _   
_ _ lunch.  _ _   
_ _ pick me up in 10. _

**_[sexy caregiver]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ Stop changing your ringtone and contact name! _

**_[lil glucose baby]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ -that sign won’t stop me because i can’t read.jpg- _ _   
_ _ 😘 😘 😘  _ _   
_ _ see u in 10 _

**_[sexy caregiver]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ And if i don’t? _

**_[lil glucose baby]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ i’ll cry  _ _ 🥺 _

**_[sexy caregiver]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ … _ _   
_ _ I’m picking the place and you can’t complain _ _   
_ _ See you in 10 _

**_[lil glucose baby]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ fine _ **_  
_ ** _ 😘  _

With a sigh, she started putting her work away and getting ready to leave, her plan to work through lunch was thwarted once again by one of her needy friends. 

“Lia, I’ll be back in two hours”, Handong said to her secretary as she walked past her and into her private elevator.

When she was younger and came to work with her father, she always thought a private elevator was too much; that just because one was in charge of the company, it didn’t mean they were different than anyone else, they were still an employee working to make the company rise in the industry. 

Her father always rolled his eyes when she expressed her concerns, only giving Handong a pat on her shoulder and saying that she’d understand when she was older.

When she had been nothing more than one of the thousand of employees in Han Consolidated, no one had really batted an eye at her, forgetting she was the boss’s daughter and treating her as one of them. 

Everyone had though that her brother Kun would be the next CEO once Mr. Han retired. Imagine their surprise when Mr. Han had announced her daughter would be the one in power. 

At first, Handong had tried to stay true to herself and followed the routine she had followed for years, interacting with everyone as she had before, but as hard as she tried everything had changed.

Little by little, everyone started keeping their distance from her. The invites to celebrate after a milestone died down, when she had asked her coworkers to hangout after work like they did before she was met with excuses, they also started giving her a wide berth in the hallways or the elevator. Even when she assured them that she was different from her father, that she saw them as equals, her words and actions were ignored. The only thing that she got in return were the whispers behind her back. 

So she just stopped trying. 

(And that’s how the rumors about being an  _ Ice Queen _ started, but if that’s what they wanted her to be, she’d surely given them that and more).

The ping of her personal elevator arriving at the lobby would always instill the fear of God on her employees, making the lobby as quiet as an abandoned mall. 

But today, instead of being greeted by silence as soon as she stepped out of the elevator, a commotion going on in the lobby greeted her.

Several guards surrounded the reception desk, watching with rapt eyes as a blonde woman and the receptionist argument seemed to be escalating. 

“Don’t you know who I am?”, the blonde woman slammed her hand against the desk in frustration, “Just call Handong, she can vouch for me”

“I’m sorry ma’am”, the receptionist looked at the blonde with disdain, her patience running thin, “but  _ Miss Han _ doesn’t receive anyone without an appointment. No matter who they are.”

“Listen…”, the blonde stretched out over the desk and was about to reach for the receptionist, when the guards finally pulled her away.

“Hey! Don’t touch me!”, she struggled against their grip, “You don’t want to make an enemy out of me!”

Handong had finally reached the reception area, her eyes going wide as she saw who the culprit was.

The guards that weren’t struggling with the blonde approached Handong quickly with a “Miss Han, we’ll escort you to a safe area”.

That got the attention of the struggling blonde, who was still trying to slip out the grip the guards had on her.

“Hey! Handong! It’s me! JiU!”

As much as Handong wanted to ignore the blonde’s presence, she knew that the longer this mess kept going, the worse the outcome would get. The least Han Consolidated needed right now was a scandal coming out of this, much less one that involved Kim JiU.

She gave a silent sign to the guards to release the blonde and whispered, “Don’t forget to do damage control”, before leaving.

Dusting herself off, JiU glared at the guards and ran after Handong.

“Hey! I was just looking for you! They wouldn’t let me in, can you believe that?”, JiU said as she caught up with the redhead..

“I don’t know how things are done at Kim Global Union, but here in Han Consolidated one must make an appointment first. We’re not barbarians”, Handong side eyed the blonde.

A beat of silence.  _ Maybe that annoying woman got the hint that I want nothing to do with her and- _ , a hand in her arm stopped her. She had to give it to her, JiU had balls, no one -excluding her best friends- had ever dared to talk to her or treat her as JiU had done so far. 

Not that she was impressed or anything. Not at all.

Handong forcefully pulled out of JiU’s grip, who seemed to reach out for her again but was stopped by the redhead’s fierce gaze.

“Woah”, JiU lifted her hands as a sign of defeat, “No touching, I get it. I just... _ want to apologize” _ , her last words came out as a mere whisper, as if they were something foreign to her.

It puzzled Handong, this kind of shy image of JiU rubbing the back on her neck and bouncing nervously on her feet was a stark contrast to the cocky woman that had propositioned to her at both galas.

“I shouldn’t have come off too strong before. You’re a lady of a certain stature and you should be treated as such”, the blonde bowed her head in remorse.

Now this was something, since according to the rumors, Kim JiU was nothing more than a cocky insufferable but attractive woman that made her way through the female population without care of the broken hearts she left in her wake. 

JiU took a step closer to Handong and looked deeply into her eyes, “Which is why, I want to start with the right foot this time and make it up to you”

“No, thank you”, was all Handong said before continuing on her way, if she was late to pick her friend she would never hear the end of it.

“Wait, what?”, JiU gave chase once again after the redhead, “What do you mean no? You’re rejecting me? Again?”

It seemed like the blonde was as stubborn as she was beautiful. Handong picked up her pace, “Not everyone has to fall over you, Miss Kim”

“Well, I just want you!”

Handong chuckled, “I find that hard to believe”

“Laugh all you want, but it’s the truth”

The redhead had been so immersed in walking as fast as possible and making her way to her private parking spot that was on the street behind the company’s building, that she didn’t notice the two teenagers racing on their bikes and about to collide with her.

But JiU did.

“Move!”, one of the teens had yelled while laughing.

That caught Handong’s attention, she stopped and looked at the teens making their way towards her.

In the blink of an eye, before she could react, a body smashed against hers, moving her out of the way. 

Handong’s hands clutched the blonde’s shirt, while JiU held the redhead with one hand on her waist and the other on her back. Both women were panting and looking into the other’s eyes.

Everyone stared in awe at the pair, to them, it seemed like the typical scene from a romance movie: the damsel in distress in the arms of her knight in shining armor.

The sound of someone whistling brought them both back to reality, Handong quickly straightened herself up and pushed JiU away, a light blush adorning her cheeks.

“A thank you would be nice”, JiU joked. 

Handong felt unsettled by the whole ordeal, those few seconds that she had spent looking right into JiU’s eyes had shaken her to the core. And she didn’t like it one bit.

So she did what she always did best when in the blonde’s presence: she ran away.

“I’m...running late. Goodbye”, were the last words she said before walking the last meters separating her from her car as fast as she could. 

_ Not again _ , JiU felt defeated as she watched Handong leaving.  _ At least she said goodbye this time? _

* * *

Once Handong was safely in the inside of her car, she took her head in her hands and screamed in frustration. It seemed like as much as she wanted, she just couldn’t escape from JiU. 

After giving herself a few minutes to calm down, she put the car on drive and left to pick up her friend, hoping that a nice lunch out would help her forget about the whole ordeal.

* * *

_ HOT NEW ROMANCE ON THE HORIZON! _ _   
_ _ Has the Heartbreaker been tamed by the Ice Queen? _

_ The country’s resident heartbreaker, Kim Global Union’s Kim JiU, was surprisingly spotted looking cozy with Han Consolidated’s CEO Han Dong. According to some of our sources, the pair had been taking a romantic stroll when some punks in bikes almost ran them over; but JiU’s reflexes were to immediately pull her girl out of harm's way and right into the safety of her arms. Thankfully, none of the women were hurt.  _

_ See the pictures of this heartwarming moment here: [link]  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> did i spent listening to handong's solo on loop while writing this chapter? maybe so.
> 
> hope you liked it!!! tell me what you think so far uwu
> 
> you can also find me on tw: @anothershipper  
> cc:/anothershipper
> 
> also, sorry for any mistakes this has been proofread like once but english aint my first language u.u


	4. the truth is it's easier to ignore it, believe me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a glimpse at handong's days after that horrible encounter with jiu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sjdgsdaj just a heads up, this might be kind of a mess.  
> all mistakes are mine, english is not my first language.

“You’re late”, was the first thing she heard when the passenger door opened.

Still feeling weird after her encounter with JiU, Handong just mumbled an almost inaudible apology to her friend, before starting the drive to their destination.

Since Handong had barely said a word since she got in the car, Gahyeon started worrying about her friend’s unusual behavior. Sure, Handong could sometimes be on the quiet side, but with her closest friends she was different, more warm and open, usually saying a witty remark or saying something savage.

“So...where are we going?”, Gahyeon broke the silence while bouncing in her seat, crossing her fingers subtly, hoping they weren’t headed to-

“Flavorish Palace”, from the corner of her eyes, Gahyeon could see Handong's subtle smirk.

_ That bitch! She knows I hate that place,  _ Gahyeon internally groaned.

“Yay!” she tried but failed to keep her disappointment from showing on her voice, making the redhead chuckle.

The youngest then started telling Handong about the shenanigans she had gotten into this weekend, making her snort and shake her head in amusement. 

_ Ah, that’s the Handong I know and love,  _ Gahyeon thought to herself, at least Handong seemed to be back to her usual self.

Suddenly, the car’s navigator screen changed and an automated voice said _ “Daddy long legs is calling”. _

Handong’s good mood seemed to evaporate, she smashed a button on the wheel to accept the call, and before the caller could utter a single word, with her best menacing tone she said, “How many times do I have to tell you to not fuck with my phone?”

It seemed like her tone had the opposite effect, instead of cowering in fear like people usually did, her friends just laughed.

“Wait till you hear what her ringtone is set to”, Gahyeon let out between laughs, wiping a tear from her eye.

_ “You said not to fuck with your work phone, your personal phone is fair game” _

“I swear to god, Kim Bora...”, of course her friends would find a loophole in her words, why was she even surprised.

_ “That’s why her personal-personal phone is a secret” _ , another voice on the other side of the line piped in.

The car went silent.

Of course, it lasted mere seconds before everything erupted into chaos.

“Yoohyeon! That was our secret!”, Handong scolded Yoohyeon, it was supposed to be their little secret.

_ “You have a personal-personal phone?”,  _ Bora said.

“And Yoohyeon is the one who knows about it? Of all people, her?”, Gahyeon crossed her arms.

_ “Hey! It’s where we play coop games!”,  _ Yoohyeon tried to defend herself.

_ “What?” _

“Yoohyeon, please stop talking”, Handong tightened her hold on the wheel.

“ _ We’ll talk about it at lunch. Where are we going, by the way?” _

Now stopping at a red light, Handong turned to glare at her friend. 

“I didn’t know you were meeting us there”

“Bora said she has something important to tell us”, Gahyeon shrugged.

_ “Yes, I do. So, better tell me now, I’m tired of going in circles around the block” _

_ “I told you we should have waited at the office for Gahyeon’s text”,  _ they heard Yoohyeon’s muffled voice. 

Handong sighed as the light turned green, her hopes of a quiet and nice lunch vanished, “We’re going to Flavorish Palace”

The twin groans coming from the other side of the line comforted her a little, she knew her best friends hated with passion her favorite restaurant, but if she had to deal with their craziness, she deserved to have her favorite meal while doing it. 

_ “Why do you like that place? It’s for grannies and-” _

Not wanting to hear Bora’s endless complaints, Handong just pushed a button and ended the call. 

“Uh, she’s going to be so mad”

“I can handle her”

* * *

Surprisingly, Bora and Yoohyeon had arrived first at the restaurant. Even if they hated the place, they still made sure to ask for Handong’s favorite table on the terrace.

As soon as they sat on the table, Bora and Yoohyeon looked up from their phones and shared a look. The mischievous smiles on their faces and the mirth dancing in their eyes made Handong wary, her friends were either about to come up with a clearly idiotic plan or they were going to tease the shit out of her.

If she was being honest, she didn’t know which one of those was the lesser of two evils.

“Someone has been busy”, Bora waved her phone at Handong’s face, while Yoohyeon made kissy noises. 

“What?”

“ _ The country’s resident heartbreaker, Kim Global Union’s Kim JiU, was surprisingly spotted looking cozy with Han Consolidated’s CEO Han Dong.”,  _ Bora dramatically swooned, clutching her chest with one hand. 

Handong immediately snatched her friend’s phone out of her hand and started skimming through the article. 

She couldn’t believe her eyes, how could anyone think for a second that she and JiU had something going on? Much less from that single interaction? For god’s sake, she had been trying to get away from her, not on a  _ romantic stroll. _

(Still, there was a little voice inside of her saying she had enjoyed being in the other woman’s arms, even if it was just for a little bit. But not even if hell froze twice over would she ever admit that out loud.)

“This is ridiculous! She merely pulled me out of harm's way! And!”, she waved the phone around, “This happened like, mere minutes ago!”

Gahyeon snapped her fingers and pointed out, “Oh, so that’s why you were late”.

“Well, the devil works hard but the tabloids work faster. Right, Yooh?”, Bora nudged Yoohyeon, who was furiously texting someone. 

“Oh, man”, Yoohyeon lamented, “I can’t believe Daze magazine has the best scoop first, again!”

At Handong’s fierce glare, Yoohyeon stammered, “I-I mean, can-can you believe they would, uh-um, stoop so low as to-to publish this?”

_ Isn’t it hot in here? _ , Yoohyeon started fanning herself.

“That’s what I thought”, Handong mumbled while looking at the menu, not that she didn’t already know what to order, it was her favorite restaurant after all, she just wanted something to do in an attempt to escape whatever this mess was.

Gahyeon scrolled through the article’s comments, “I can’t believe people are buying this”

_ [Comments: _

_ blueberry-eyes: omg! they look so cute together _

_ kimsy: you can clearly see how much they love each other _

_ not_mark: h o t _

_ luvie101: i heard my cousin’s friend’s boyfriend’s friend work’s at HC and said they met at a business event and instantly fell in love _

_ blueberry-eyes: @luvie101 fr??? that’s so romantic  _

_ load more] _

“Right, as if Handong could seriously date someone”, Bora mumbled while also reading the article’s comments, snorting here and there when she found a particularly funny one.

“I could! If I wanted to”, Handong said.

“You’re extremely picky and too oblivious sometimes”, Bora pointed out.

Handong crossed her arms, “I am not!”

“Awww, it is cute how she really believes that”, Bora leaned over the table and pinched Handong’s cheeks.

“Gahyeon, tell her”, maybe having one of her best friends in her corner would help her case.

“ _ Well _ ...”, it’s not like she wanted to go against Handong, but there were something’s that had to be said.

“Not you too”, Handong groaned in disappointment. 

“There have been people lining up your door, waiting for a chance to date you for as long as we’ve known each other”, Gahyeon scratched the back of her neck, “And you have never really spared them a glance”

Wanting to end their conversation, Handong immediately flagged the waiter down to their table.

Giving the illusion of drinking from her glass of water, Bora muttered under her breath, “Yoohyeon knows that better than anyone”.

Yoohyeon started choking on her drink, Handong quickly started patting her back in an attempt to help her, but soon Yoohyeon waved her away.

“I’m fine”, she said in between coughs, “it just went through the wrong pipe”.

Thankfully for Yoohyeon, Handong had been too distracted by the whole situation to pay attention to whatever Bora had said.

Before they could continue talking, the waiter approached to take their orders and left. It seemed like the interruption had made them forget their previous conversation, and for that more than one of them was grateful.

* * *

It had been a long week for Handong, even if her lawyers had gotten Daze Magazine and other publications from talking about her (nonexistent) relationship with JiU, the damage was done. Although there were no more articles popping up about them, they were still the talk of the town online. 

Apparently, the possibility of two successful women in positions of power (JiU’s was still debatable) dating each other made the locals go wild. Even though Handong refused to use social media -her accounts being managed by her media representative and Gahyeon-, her friends had kept her up to date with everything people said about what the public had dubbed as  _ JiDong _ ; Handong could only roll her eyes at every wild thing her friends told her people came up with, from how they supposedly fell in love to that ridiculous portmenau.

_ HanJi was obviously a superior name, _ the redhead thought to herself as she made her way to her office. All she wanted to do after dealing with that was to drown herself in work and alcohol.

“Gahyeon, what are you doing here? Don’t you have a company to manage?”

The sight of her friend being at her office, particularly sitting on her desk with one leg swinging, was not an unusual one per se, she was just used to the other loudly announcing her presence whenever she came over or wanted her attention.

“What’s the point of being the boss if you can’t slip out every now and then?”, Gahyeon took a bite of the donut in her hand, “This are really good, by the way”

“Where did you get that?”, Handong approached her friend and frowned at the sight of the box next to her.

“It seems like you have a secret admirer”, Gahyeon waved the card she had taken from the box at her and started reading out loud with a terrible british accent, “ _ If flowers aren’t the way to your heart, maybe a sweet treat will change your mind” _ , her barely contained snort made Handong sigh in frustration. 

The redhead punched a button on her desk phone, “Lia…”

_ “Yes, ma’am” _

“Didn’t I give a direct order that gifts shouldn’t be brought into my office?”

_ “Yes, ma’am. I haven’t let anything pass since you told me that?” _

“Why is there a big white box full of donuts on my desk, then?”

_ “I...I don’t know? B-but I’ll find the culprit behind this!” _

Gahyeon pushed Handong away, “Lia, if anything else comes send it my way!”

_ “Uh...sure, ma’am.” _

Handong pushed Gahyeon back, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Finding more about your secret admirer, of course!”

“There’s nothing to find out. Kim JiU has been sending me gifts since last week”

Apart from the headache that had been dealing with the mediatic circus she had found herself in, Handong also had to deal with a persistent JiU. The blonde, thankfully, hadn’t shown her face at her building, probably scared by the way security had handled her the last time; but she had taken to sending her over the top flower arrangements two times a day -one in the morning and another in the afternoon- every single day for the past week.

Each arrangement came with a cheesy note about the flowers' meanings and the blonde’s number scribbled at the end with a  _ ‘plis call me xoxo’ _ written in bright pink letters.

Handong had thrown every arrangement in the trash, no matter how beautiful they were, she refused to give Kim JiU the satisfaction of getting to her.

“What? Why didn’t you tell us?”, Gahyeon whined.

If Handong was being honest, she didn’t tell her friend about the flowers because:

  1. She didn’t want to be teased about it.
  2. She wanted to stop thinking about JiU (which was easier said than done).
  3. She was afraid she wouldn’t be able to hide from her friends how much this whole JiU situation was affecting her.



And while Handong knew that if she talked to her friends about her worried and fears they’d be nothing but supportive, she wanted to stay inside her bubble as much as she could.

“I don’t want anything to do with her”, was the answer Handong settled with as she plopped down on her chair.

The action surprised Handong, since she had only seen the redhead like this when she was about to reach her limit, and that was something that happened every once in a blue moon.

“Why?”

Busying herself with some paperwork, Handong deadpanned,“I just don’t”.

“Come on Dongie, live a little! You have an extremely gorgeous woman after you, going through all these lengths to get your attention!” she took another donut from the box, they were extremely delicious and she made a mental note to find out where they were from before she left, “Isn’t that romantic?”

“Kim JiU is not interested in romance”, Handong looked up at her friend, “She just wants a quick fuck”.

“And? That’s still a good thing... _ you sure need it”,  _ even though her last words were mumbled, Handong still heard them loud and clear.

“Hey!”

“I am just saying”

“If you’re so moved by her, why don’t you go after her”

Gahyeon made her way behind the desk, and before she could protest, her friend sat on her lap and wrapped her arms around her, “You know my heart belongs to my one and only, you”.

To prove her point, Gahyeon kissed Handong on the cheek with a loud smack.

“Sure”, Handong grimaced as she cleaned her cheek with her shirt’s sleeve, then she pushed her annoying friend off her lap.

“Ugh”, Gahyeon sat back down on the desk, “why can’t I just have a secret admirer like you?”

“It’s not a secret admirer if we know who it is”, Handong pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

“It doesn’t matter… I still want one”, Gahyeon whined with a pout on her face.

“Well, I´m pretty sure there is a line of people wanting to date you”

“There isn’t. But enough about me, let’s go back to  _ JiU _ ”, Gahyeon wiggled her eyebrows, “Get it? Because  _ JiU _ sounds like  _ you _ ?”

“There’s nothing to talk about”, maybe if she went back to her paperwork, Gahyeon would get the hint and let the topic be.

But of course, her friend wouldn’t let go of the topic that easily, “Don’t tell me you aren’t a bit moved by her efforts?”

“I am not. I don’t trust her”

“Have you at least looked at her file? I’m sure Bora’s men found out some juicy stuff”

Ah,  _ JiU’s  _ file. The file that Bora had apparently gotten her private investigator to compile after she had left Handong all alone in that gala. The file that Bora had given her last week during their impromptu lunch at Flavorish Palace.  _ That file. _

The same file that Handong had stashed in one of her drawers as soon as she got back to her office. The file that she refused to look at because she would not, under any circumstances, learn more about the woman that she was trying so hard to forget about.

“I already told you guys, I’m  _ not  _ interested in  _ her _ ”

Before Gahyeon could protest, a knock on the door interrupted them.

“Come in”, the youngest called out as if it was her office. 

“Sorry to interrupt, ma’am”, Lia made her way inside her office, a young woman with ginger hair trailing behind her, “It seems like I’ve found the culprit”

The culprit in question was extremely nervous, who wouldn’t be when they were taken to the big boss’s office on their second week on the job. To make matters worse, Miss Han was looking at her with a stoic face, making her shake in place.

Since the ginger walked into the office, Gahyeon’s mind went blank, the only thought running through her head was  _ “oh my god, she’s so cute”. _

“It seems like Dahyun here”, Lia put a hand on Dahyun’s shoulder and pushed her a little, “received  _ you know who _ ’s package and put it in here. Despite being clearly instructed not to”.

“I a-am sorry, Miss Han,” Dahyun looked at the floor as she talked, “I-I thought th-that Miss JiU was you-your girl-girlfriend”, Gahyeon, seemingly back to her senses, snorted at that while Handong just clenched her jaw, “An-and I thought i-it was sweet?”, Dahyun shrugged, her hands playing nervously with each other.

“Well, Miss Kim…”, Handong put a hand on her desk.

“Ple-please don’t fi-fire me!,” Dahyun pleaded.

The poor girl seemed close to tears, and if there was something Gahyeon hated more than working on a Wednesday, was seeing a pretty woman in distress.

“She’s not firing you!”, Gahyeon chuckled and then gave Handong, who was looking at her with fire in her eyes, her best puppy eyes, “Right? Cause she was just doing her job?”, she then turned to look at Dahyun, “You were just doing your job, right?”

Dahyun seemed to freeze in her place, being put on the spot like that making her forget everything she wanted to say, so the only thing she could do was nod furiously.

“See?”, Gahyeon side hugged Handong, “Now, why don’t you gals leave us be?”

Gahyeon gave Lia a look, the assistant just sighed, knowing that the other woman always got her way, and grabbed Dahyun, who was still in a daze, and pulled her away and out of the office.

Once both women left them, Gahyeon let out a deep breath.

“Who is she? What’s her job? Why is she so cute and how does she like her eggs in the morning?”, Gahyeon’s words came out in a flurry, the previously collected woman seemed to lose her cool. 

Handong looked at her in awe, she knew her best friend was a gay disaster, but never this much of one.

“She is my new assistant”

“Wait, what about Lia?”

“Lia’s still my assistant, but since we’re acquiring YG Entertainment, I need a new one”, Handong said as if it was nothing.

“Woah, what? Didn’t you say that entertainment agencies were a waste of your time and resources?”, something that Gahyeon never got, since the idol industry could be quite lucrative and one thing Handong loved more than anything was making Han Consolidated money.

“They’re but this is a special favor for a friend”, Handong refused to look at Gahyeon, knowing her friend would instantly know something was up if they made eye contact.

Since Handong was avoiding her eyes, Gahyeon raked her brain, trying to think about the friend Handong would go these lengths for. As she swept her eyes around her friend’s office, a light bulb suddenly turned on in her brain when she saw a particular pink object on one of the shelves.

“Oh my god! Did you do this for your ex?”

Handong scoffed, “Lisa is not my ex. She’s just a close friend”

“Right”, Gahyeon rolled her eyes, “And weren’t you  _ high school sweethearts _ ?”

“No! We just were really close! She was there for me when I was going through a rough time”

“Sure, Jan”

* * *

Another week had passed and it seemed JiU was getting tired of sending gifts to her. Or that’s what Handong told herself to make herself feel better.

Gahyeon, seemingly enamoured with her new assistant (the one she told her explicitly not to go after, since the girl was damn good at her job), had taken to coming over every single day with the excuse of ridding Handong of JiU’s gifts, but always stayed sharing whatever the treats the boxes had with Dahyun, not without sending Handong a picture of the box and the card attached to it first.

The only consolation that Handong had was that Dahyun seemed confused at her friend’s attempts at flirting. She had to admit that it was extremely funny seeing Gahyeon fumble with her words and stutter whenever Dahyun tilted her head in confusion. 

On the downside, the amount of texts reaking of gay panic that Gahyeon sent her after every interaction were a little too much. When asked why she didn’t take a more direct approach, Gahyeon always said that if she wanted to successfully woo Dahyun, she had to be like a scalpel, not her usual chainsaw self. 

Handong shook her head as she passed her -now empty- assistants’ desks. 

There was something about having the whole building (excluding security and the few workers that always stayed past their shift) to herself, she felt some comfort in knowing there was no one else who could botter her this late, her only company being the four walls she basically grew up in.

“Hey”, that voice made her stop right at her office’s doorway.

“What are you doing here?”, Handong said with a clenched jaw, she couldn’t believe the audacity of this woman.  _ Maybe I should call security, _ her eyes went to the emergency button on the doorway.

Minji saw Handong’s decisive look, so before the redhead could say anything, Minji got up from the couch with her hands up.

“Wait… I’m just here to talk to you”

Handong gave JiU a long look, the blonde seemed tired and… defeated? It was weird seeing the cocky woman this way, if her past weeks gestures were anything to go by, she expected the blonde to do something grand to get her attention, like starting a flash mob or hiring a plane to write a message in the sky.

But seeing her looking uncharacteristically small and nervous was all it took for Handong to give into the other’s request. 

Handong walked to her mini bar and poured herself a drink, and if the mood in the room was any indication, she was going to need it.

“What’s there to talk about?”

“Since it seemed like my gifts didn’t work, I thought I’d come in person. To apologize. Again”

“Okay, let’s hear it”

“I know I’ve been coming on too strong”, Handong snorted, “and that to you I might be nothing more than the womanizer the media paints me out to be”, the blonde took a step towards her, “but I want to show you that I’m more than that. You’re different from anyone else I have ever met”.

The redhead crossed her arms, “I bet you tell that to all the girls.”

“It’s the truth”, JiU gazed into Handong’s eyes, hoping to convey her sincerity, “I want you to know me, and I want to know you.”

Handong observed JiU with caution, there was just no way that the woman in front of her just wanted to get to know her. There was also the fact that the JiU standing right before her seemed like a completely different JiU from the one she had met and that everyone talked about.

Seeing Handong’s wariness, JiU simply sighed and took out something from her pockets. Handong couldn’t really identify what it was, but from the way JiU was handling it in her hands, it must have been something  _ really _ important.

The blonde walked to the CEO’s desk and carefully put what she was holding on top of it. 

Curious, Handong walked to her desk as JiU walked to the door, when they crossed paths, the blonde said softly, “Maybe after you see that, you’ll change your mind. You know where to find me”.

With that, JiU walked right out the door, giving Handong one last look before leaving.

“What?” Handong looked at what JiU had left there, it seemed to be a simple polaroid upside down, but as she looked at it closer, there was a faded  _ KM&HD _ scribbled on it.

_ There is no way _ , the redhead thought as she sat down in her chair and started searching for the file Bora had given her, her eyes never leaving the polaroid, afraid it would disappear if she looked away for even a second.

Once she found what she was looking for, Handong took the polaroid without turning it around with one hand and opened the folder with another. 

Staring right back at her, was a 5x8 picture of JiU smiling right back at her; Handong put the polaroid facing up right next to it, the image of her younger smiling self hugging  _ her _ tightly stole the air right from her lungs.

It seemed impossible, but the file -the name in all caps glaring back at her- and the polaroid couldn’t lie. Handong couldn’t believe her eyes, after all these years,  _ she  _ was back.

_ Kim Minji. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you liked this update! next chapter we'll get a glimpse at minji's side of the story.
> 
> you can also find me on tw: @anothershipper  
> cc:/anothershipper


	5. i know i make the same mistakes every time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> have you ever wondered what goes inside someone's ( ̶m̶i̶n̶j̶i̶'̶s̶) head?

When she had arrived that day at Han Consolidated, the plan had been simple:

  1. Talk to Handong
  2. Make her finally fall for her charms 



To Minji, it seemed like a foolproof and well thought out plan; but, well, how was she supposed to know trying to use her family name at her advantage would backfire and almost get her escorted out of Han Consolidated by security?

Since her previous two attempts of being her usual casanova self had failed, Minji had decided that another approach was necessary. It was unusual but if she wanted to make Handong fall in love with her -just in order to win the bet, not because the redhead meant something for her,  _ obviously _ -, she had to become a different Minji, a more sensible one.

If only she knew Handong as well as she did before, she could use her knowledge to her advantage and become Handong’s ideal partner, thus winning the bet with ease. 

But since she basically knew nothing about Handong  _ now _ , she would have to wing it and hope for the best. It seemed that trying to be softer and nervous had not worked as planned, since once again, Handong had rejected her efforts.

One would have thought that maybe Handong’s stubborn resolve to want nothing to do with her would have thawed a little after Minji had saved her from meeting a terrible fate; and for a moment, as she gazed into the redhead’s eyes Minji swore there was  _ something  _ there, something that made her insides tingle in anticipation.

But then Handong had ran away from her,  _ again _ .

If she was being honest with herself, everytime Minji had seen Handong walking away from her without a second thought, it  _ stung _ . It was a huge blow to her ego, after all.

(There was no way she’d ever admit that it made her confidence waver and her heart hurt, she was _ Kim Minji _ and she always got whatever -and  _ whoever _ \- she wanted.)

What happened next surprised Minji, the article about her supposed blooming romance with Handong came out of the blue and blindsided her. She had talked to Siyeon as soon as her family’s publicist let her know about the article, and after asking her to take it down, Siyeon friend had simply laughed at Minji and said one of the head editor’s had approved it and there was nothing she could do about it (even though she was  _ technically  _ the boss).

Minji really hoped the article wouldn’t hurt the basically nonexistent progress she had made with Handong; after all, she had managed to spend more than two minutes in the redhead’s presence before the latter ultimately ran away.

While being on the headlines of trashy magazines never bothered Minji -for her, it was a fun pastime to see what crazy shit they’d pin on her next-, there was something about  _ this  _ article that rubbed her wrong. 

She didn’t know if it was how the article (and the following ones that popped up) portrayed them as  _ the Romeo and Juliet of the business world _ , the crazy theories about their entire “relationship”, the comments section (and subsequent online craze for  _ JiDong _ ) going wild with speculation, or the picture of her holding Handong.

(It was absolutely  _ not _ the picture, there was no way Minji had looked ( _ more than once! _ ) at every single picture Daze Magazine had uploaded for everyone to see and micro-analyzed everything about it:  _ was she imagining the glint in Handong’s eyes? Had she really held her as if the redhead was the most precious being in the whole wide word? Did they really look like a couple in love? _

Pff, of course Minji would never ever do something like that, she had only read over every comment and looked up the  _ JiDong _ hashtag in social media just so she could see what people were saying about her, she was only checking to see if there was a point where she would had to talk to her publicist to deal with it.)

Siyeon and Yubin had told her that maybe she could use the article to her advantage, the public’s eyes were on them and  _ that _ would surely affect their interactions; there was no way Handong could run away from her again or blow her off  _ publicly  _ without facing some kind backlash.

After all, since both were important public figures, they were always in the spotlight for one thing or another.

And while it seemed like a smart idea, it rubbed Minji the wrong way; usually she would accept any shortcut she could take, but there had always been something about Handong that just made her want to take the harder road and take matters in her own hands.

So, Minji had tried everything that had made her past conquests swoon: flowers. 

It seemed like the minimal effort since she basically paid someone else to choose the gifts and delivered, but it had always worked in her favor; she had never seen the appeal of it though, even if they were beautiful, flowers would inevitably die within a short period of time. But, well, they got the work done, and after she had sent an arrangement or the other, the recipient would always find themselves under her spell.

This time though, she had decided to do the work herself, from choosing the flowers after meticulously looking up their meanings, to writing some cheesy notes with little doodles and her phone number in them. 

Once again, her plan seemed foolproof and well thought out, it had never failed before, so why would it fail now?

But from the lack of response from Handong, it seemed like all her efforts were for naught. 

And back to step one she was.

After talking to her friends about it, Yubin had simply laughed to her face while Siyeon had told her to go bigger and bolder, that what Handong needed was an extremely romantic and over the top gesture to finally fall for her charms. 

( _ That _ had been surprising, since as far as they knew, Siyeon was the same or worse than Minji when it came to woman, her motto was basically  _ fuck-them-and-leave-them _ ; so Siyeon suggesting something romantic had surely been extremely out of character.)

But no, if Handong was  _ anything  _ like she had been in the past -and while people  _ could _ change, something inside Minji told her that maybe  _ this _ Handong wasn’t that different from the one she knew- there was no way that she would respond kindly to that. What Minji needed was a more subtle approach.

Now that she thought about it, maybe sending her the most expensive flower arrangements money could buy had been an awful idea; remembering how her father used to say that her mother got through his heart through his stomach, she set her sights on something that everyone couldn’t live without: food.

From hiring Gordon Ramsay to make his signature Beef Wellington to Christine McConnell making one of her curious but tasty creations, Minji had blown hundreds of thousands of dollars in getting the best food money could ever buy just to get the redhead’s attention.

(She had even gone as far as to make her famous donuts from scratch, something she had never done for anyone else before. But that was a secret she’d take to her grave.) 

Everyday Minji  _ did not _ wait with bated breath for her phone to ring, she was  _ obviously _ not waiting for Handong to either call or text her. Sometimes she wondered if maybe her gifts hadn’t made it to Handong, but after confirming with her third cousin twice removed, Myung Soo, that his sister had been  _ personally  _ delivering her gifts to the redhead, Minji was puzzled.

_ Shouldn’t she be calling or texting me already? _ , Minji thought as she  _ did not _ stare at her phone for the umpteenth time, waiting for it to ring. But as time passed, she was beginning to lose hope.

**_[Kim JiU]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ hey! myung soo!  _

**_[Kim Myung Soo]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ for the gazillion time, Dubu _ _   
_ _ has delivered your gifts _ _   
_ _ to your lovely gf _ _   
_ _ stop texting me just _ _   
_ _ to ask that  _ _ 🙄 _ __

**_[Kim JiU]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ it’s just that _ _   
_ _ she hasn’t contacted me _ _   
_ _ yet  _

**_[Kim Myung Soo]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ well… _ _   
_ _ maybe you just gotta fix _ _   
_ _ whatever mistake you did _ _   
_ _ by idk?? apologizing _ _   
_ _ in person??? _

**_[Kim JiU]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ why would you assume _ _   
_ _ i did something wrong? _ _   
_ _ some cousin you are :( _

**_[Kim Myung Soo]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ you are the one _ _   
_ _ that has been sending _ _   
_ _ her gifts for weeks?? _ _   
_ _ you have no romantic bone _ _   
_ _ in your body, so the only _ _   
_ _ logical thing to think about _ _   
_ _ that is that YOU fucked it up _ _   
_ _ lol _

**_[Kim JiU]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ blocked _

**_[Kim Myung Soo]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ i’ll tell dubu you’re being mean _ _   
_ _ say goodbye to your _ _   
_ _ personal courier _

**_[Kim JiU]_** ** _  
_** _🙄_ _🙄_ _🙄_ _🙄_

**_[Kim Myung Soo]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ just talk to her in person bro?? _ _   
_ _ don’t ladies like talking their _ _   
_ _ feelings out and shit?? _

**_[Kim JiU]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ one, that’s sexist _ _   
_ _ two… _ _   
_ _ you may be right _

**_[Kim Myung Soo]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ i always am lol _ _   
_ _ that’s why my side of the _ _   
_ _ kim family tree has always _ _   
_ _ been the superior one _

**_[Kim JiU]_** ** _  
_** _🙄_ _🙄_ _🙄_ _🙄_

Minji sighed after she finished talking with her cousin, maybe he was right after all and she had been approaching this in the wrong way. Handong was nothing like her past conquests, and as such, she deserved a different kind of treatment.

Groaning in frustration, Minji flopped face first into her bed, her mind running a mile a minute trying to come up with something,  _ anything _ , that would help her with her newly amended plan:

  * _Get Handong to talk to her (for more than five minutes without walking away from Minji.)_



  1. ?????



It may not seem as well thought out or as foolproof as her past plans but as long as she could accomplish part one, she would consider it as a win.

_ What to do? _ , as Minji thought about it, her eyes fell on the framed old photograph that was right in her bedside table. A lightbulb turned on in her mind. If Handong didn’t want anything to do with  _ JiU _ , maybe she would change her mind if  _ Kim Minji _ was the one in front of her.

* * *

Getting Handong’s schedule from her cousin had been easy, Dubu had always been a sucker for romance -even if the youngest had always been oblivious to it in her daily life- and had jumped up and down at the opportunity of Minji finally patching thing’s up with Handong.

(Of course, when all this had started, Minji had said that Handong was indeed her girlfriend and that they were going through a rough patch in their relationship since they had been outed on the news. While Minji had initially refused to use the aftermath of the article and  _ JiDong _ becoming even bigger than Brangelina ever was in its peak, using it to get her cousin to help her wasn’t  _ technically _ wrong since she was putting in the work and effort in her gifts. 

Furthermore, having somewhat of an inside gal at Han Consolidated surely had its perks. Moreso after she was  _ kinda  _ banned from the company, and the lobby’s receptionist basically hated her.)

Under Dubu’s instructions, she had made her way to Han Consolidated half an hour after the majority of the personnel had went home; she found her cousin waiting for her at the lobby -thankfully devoid of the receptionist- and used her badge to grant both of them access to the main offices.

Their ride up to the last floor where the CEO’s office was located was spent mostly in silence. While they had seen each other in the annual  _ Kim Family Extravaganza _ , their age difference resulted in very little interactions, Minji had always been much closer to Myung Soo while growing up; and when Dubu had renounced the family name after “The Scandal”, their interactions dwindled down to zero. The only way she kept up with her cousin was through her brother, and that’s how she found out the ever elusive Dubu was now working at Han Consolidated.

When the elevator finally reached the top floor, Minji turned to look at Dubu and smiled softly at her, thinking that maybe she should start putting more effort in getting to know the other woman.

“Well, this is my stop”, Minji said as she walked out the elevator, “Thank you for helping me Dubu”

Her cousin smiled shyly at her and rubbed her neck, “It is nothing. Just make sure this doesn’t trace back to me, I  _ really _ need this job”.

“I could always get you a job at KGS, you know?”

“Nah, the farther I’m from the family the better”, she shrugged.

Minji shook her head, “Just because you renounced the family name doesn’t mean you aren’t still family to me”.

With one last wave, her cousin closed the elevator’s doors and left Minji just standing there. Taking a deep breath, Minji headed to where Dubu told her the CEO’s office was and entered the empty room.

According to her cousin, Handong would surely be making her way back from a business meeting any minute now. So Minji sat down on the couch and took in her surroundings while she waited.

From what she remembered, Handong had always been a simple and cozy kind of gal, revealing in the simple things life had to offer rather than enjoying the finest things in life that had always been offered to her in a silver platter; but now, looking at the luxurious office space she started wondering if maybe Handong had truly changed that drastically from how she had been in her youth.

(Minji still held that small thread of hope that there was still something from  _ her Handong _ inside the other woman, that what she was about to try wouldn’t be in vain.)

She didn’t have to wait for long for Handong to show up, the other woman had been unaware of her presence, so Minji made herself known with a soft “Hey”.

Handong immediately stopped right at her office’s doorway, and with a clenched jaw asked Minji what she was doing there; Minji internally sighed, maybe this was gonna be harder than she thought.

When she saw Handong’s eyes stray to the emergency button on the doorway, Minji stood up from her seat with her hands up in surrender, hoping to convey to the other that she wasn’t here to give her any trouble.

“Wait… I’m just here to talk to you.”

Minji saw the long look Handong gave her, as if the other was analyzing her whole being and trying to pinpoint some hint of foul play; so she just stood there, shoulders down and her finger nervously playing with each other, waiting with bated breath for the other’s response.

The redhead walked to her mini bar and poured herself a drink before saying, “What’s there to talk about?”

“Since it seemed like my gifts didn’t work, I thought I’d come in person. To apologize. Again”

“Okay, let’s hear it”

“I know I’ve been coming on too strong”, Minji forced herself not to let her nervousness show when the CEO snorted at her, “and that to you I might be nothing more than the womanizer the media paints me out to be”, she took a step towards the other woman, “but I want to show you that I’m more than that. You’re different from anyone else I have ever met”.

Handong crossed her arms, “I bet you tell that to all the girls.”

“It’s the truth”, Minji gazed into Handong’s eyes, hoping to convey her sincerity, “I want you to know me, and I want to know you.”

Handong seemed wary and Minji couldn’t blame her, she was behaving extremely differently than to the other times she had interacted with the redhead, gone was her usual cocky self and in her place was the  _ real _ her.

With a sigh, Minji took out with care the old photograph she was carrying in her pocket, this was either going to make it or break it. And after she gave it to Handong, there would be no turning back.

She walked to the CEO’s desk and carefully laid the photograph face down on the other’s desk, then she started making her way out of the office; when she crossed paths with the other on her way out, she softly said, “Maybe after you see that, you’ll change your mind. You know where to find me”.

With that, Minji walked right out the door, giving Handong one last look before leaving.

The blonde didn’t stop until she made her way to the elevator, and once she was inside she let out a deep sigh, slumping against the elevator’s wall. Minji couldn’t believe what she had done, after all those years where she had sworn her past was as good as dead, here she was, bringing it to life once again. 

There were only a handful of people -specifically those she called her closest friends and her immediate family- that knew about it, and she had worked damned hard to keep it that way. 

But if she wanted to win the bet -after all, that was all this was about-, she’d have to make this enormous sacrifice, she just hoped that at the end it’d all be worth it.

Once outside the building, she gave one last long look at the top of it, where -in the deep darkness the city was now enveloped in- a long window could be seen lit; it was all out of her hands now, the ball was in Handong’s court, and whatever the woman decided to do, Minji bowed to do her damn best at winning this game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what did you think about minji's side of things??? let me know in the comments!!  
> thank you all so much for reading and liking this fic uwu
> 
> you can also find me on tw: @anothershipper  
> cc:/anothershipper


	6. and all the pieces fall right into place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sometimes you just need a friend that has your back  
> (aka. the one with handong and minji's backstory)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dfjhfsdj sorry it's been a while, hope the length makes up for the wait 😅😅
> 
> tw: homophobia

As Handong stared at the file in front of her, her mind couldn’t help but wander into dangerous territory. It had been years since she had thought about Kim Minji, that name was nothing but the whisper of a ghost she had thought she left behind.

Thousands of memories she had repressed flashed through her mind, from the time they first met, to how they became friends, the happiest and saddest days they shared during their friendship, to the terrible way it all ended.

But no matter how hard she tried to stop thinking about it, the past that haunted her was resurfacing once again.

Handong ran a frustrated hand through her hair and then down her face, coming to a surprising discovery: She was  _ crying _ .

Tears fell down her face at a rapid pace and she just couldn’t stop them; it seemed like the walls she had carefully crafted over the years were inevitably falling down. 

Without looking away from the picture in front of her, she grabbed her cell phone with a trembling hand and called a number she knew by heart.

_ “Hey bitch, what’s up?” _

It seemed like hearing the voice from the woman on the other side of the line was all Handong needed to fully break down, she wanted to speak and tell the other what was going on but the words got stuck in her throat; the only thing that came out from her mouth were sobs.

_ “Dong-dong? What’s going on? Are you hurt?” _ , the other woman’s voice was full of concern, making Handong cry harder.  _ “Where are you right now?” _

“O-office”, Handong’s words could be barely understood.

_ “I’ll be there in a jiffy” _ , some thumps, keys jiggling and the sound of a zipper were heard from the other side of the line,  _ “Don’t hang up until I get there, okay?” _

Even though the other woman couldn’t see her, Handong nodded.

No more than ten minutes had passed when a tall blonde woman hastily made her way into the CEO’s office; all it took was one look at Handong for the woman to rush next to her and take her into her arms.

“Li-lisa…”, Handong burrowed her face into Lisa’s neck, her tears making Lisa’s skin and jacket damp.

“What’s wrong?”, Lisa said as she tightened her hold on Handong, as if to reassure her that she was  _ there _ , one hand caressing her hair.

“She is back”, Handong’s voice was nothing more than a broken whisper.

Lisa furrowed her brows, her mind going through all the possibilities of who could have made her friend feel this way; her eyes wandered over Handong’s desk and landed on the open file, and when she saw the picture on top of it, it all made sense. There was only one person that could make the usually composed and seemingly cold hearted Handong break down like  _ this _ .

_ Of course it has to be motherfucking Kim Minji, _ Lisa thought with a roll of her eyes.

* * *

_ The memory of how they first met _

_ Ever since she could remember, Handong hated attending business dinners. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t attended many of them yet; but the ones she had been to in her 8 years of life were enough to fester a deep hatred for them. _

_ She has tried to get out of them ( _ more than once! _ ) but her father always insisted that they’d do her good, that she had to learn the family business since the growing Han Consolidated was her legacy. _

_ So Handong, not one to go against her father’s words, did as she was told; she let her mother put her in uncomfortable dresses and pretended to be interested in whatever the adults were talking about, instead of being able to play outside with the other kids. She despised more the former than the latter, as her mother seemed to always find the worst outfits to dress her in -like that time her mom made her wear that hideous neon pink with dark green details dress, she still shudders every time she thinks about it. _

_ Handong sighed as she looked outside the window, her gaze focusing on the kids outside playing what seemed to be tag; when she first had started coming to these things, she had tried to join them but they had deemed her too weird and proper, not allowing her to play with them. While at first it had stung, Handong had gotten over it quickly after seeing how dumb those kids could get. _

_ “Dong”, her father called her over with a wave of his hand, “Come meet the Kims, our new business partners”. _

_ The first thing Handong noticed was that the Kims were really tall and had these intimidating aura surrounding them; not letting it show, Handong just bowed and said it was nice to meet them. _

_ The Kims’ stoic faces morphed into a smile, it seemed like they were pleased with her good manners. _

_ “Nice to meet you Handong”, Mr. Kim said before turning behind him, “You could learn a thing or two about her, Minji”. _

_ Handong finally noticed a girl that seemed to be around her age standing right behind Mr. Kim. _

_ Minji giggled at her father’s words and gave the Han family an awkward bow, “Nice to meet you”. _

_ When Minji came back up, Handong noticed she was wearing this thick coke bottle glasses that made her look funny, her chubby cheeks standing out more, and when the girl smiled it seemed like she was missing her two front teeth. _

_ Noticing the attention on her, Minji just smiled wider and stuck her tongue out between the space of her missing teeth; making Handong roll her eyes,  _ this girl really has no manners.

_ Suddenly, Minji wasn’t standing right in front of them but right next to her. _

_ “Let’s go play”, she said while taking Handong’s hand and pulling her away from their parents, not giving her a chance to refuse. _

_ Handong gave her father one last look, pleading him to save her from what would probably be hell for her, but Mr. Han just shook his head and mouthed ‘behave’. She scoffed at him, as if she would ever behave less than perfect when they were at a business dinner. _

So annoying _ , Handong thought as Minji swung their joined hands as they walked. _

_ Handong had been right, the next hours were like hell for her, it seemed like Minji just wouldn’t stop talking and couldn’t sit still, pulling Handong with her all over the place.  _

_ Once they were called for dinner, Handong thought that she might be able to get a respite from Minji’s presence, but she was wrong; of course, their parents thought it’d be a great idea to have the girls sit together so they could bond.  _

This is going to be a long night _ , was what ran through Handong’s mind as she stared at Minji playing with her food. _

* * *

It took Handong more than ten minutes to finally feel like she could finally breathe without bursting into tears once again; it seemed like being in Lisa’s arms and the soothing hand running softly through her back were all she needed to calm down.

Slowly, she lifted her head from the crook of Lisa’s neck, grimacing when she noticed the traces of smeared make-up she had left on Lisa’s neck and jacket.

“I’m so sorry”, Handong whispered while trying to clean the mess she had made in Lisa’s neck with her hand, “I’ll buy you a new jacket since I ruined this one”.

Lisa chuckled softly, never letting go of Handong, “It’s okay, I care more about you than I do about this lousy jacket, I was actually thinking about getting rid of this old thing”

Handong ran a hand over Lisa’s jacket to try to get rid of the wrinkles, “I’m pretty sure this one is your favorite jacket”.

“No, it’s not”, Lisa denied quickly, making Handong laugh.

They stared at each other’s smiling faces, and after a few seconds the air became charged with  _ something. _

Handong licked her lips, “Thank you, for being here”.

Lisa gave her a soft smile, “You know I’ll always have your back”.

Lisa’s words made Handong’s smile fall from her face, making her remember someone else that had made that same promise once upon a time.

* * *

_ The memory of how they became friends _

_ After that fateful business diner, Handong couldn’t seem to shake Kim Minji away. It seemed like the girl was everywhere she went to, suddenly Minji was in her same school -thankfully in a different class though-, in her ballet classes, and even sharing the  _ same ride _ as her. _

_ Their parents apparently thought the girls had gotten along perfectly during the diner and decided that to strengthen the relationship between their families their daughters should become  _ best friends _.  _

As if, _ Handong had mentally scoffed as her father told her that her and Minji would be seeing more of each other outside of school and classes, that he had scheduled at least one playdate a week with the Kims. _

_ Thankfully, their parents never went with them on their playdates as they were always busy, instead leaving them in charge with their nannies; which meant that Handong could just spend the day ignoring Minji and not playing with her. _

_ So far, it had worked. Minji had tried several times to coax her into playing with her but Handong never bugged, firmly staying in her place under the shade of a tree reading; after being ignored several times, Minji gave up and went to play by herself. _

_ But then, her nanny had to snitch on her and tell her father that she had been ignoring Minji during their playdates. That night she had been sent to bed without dinner and a warning:  _ start getting along with Minji or else…

_ And that’s how Handong found herself building sandcastles with Minji in the playground, she was about to refuse because she hated the feel of sand on her skin when her father’s warning flashed to her mind. _

_ She had found a loophole though: asking Minji to have a sandcastle contest with each one of them working on opposite sides of each other so as to not copy the other.  _

_ It had been at least thirty minutes of them working in relative silence, only Minji’s grunts here and there when her sandcastle wouldn’t stand the way she wanted it to. Suddenly a shade fell over Handong, confused she looked up and was met with the sight of an older kid staring menacingly at her.  _

_ “Can I help you?”, Handong went back to her sandcastle, not sparing the boy another glance. _

_ “Your castle looks  _ dumb _ ”, the boy drawled out the last word. _

_ Handong just ignored him, knowing that it was best to not give her attention to people that weren’t worth her time. _

_ “Didn’t you hear me?”, the boy stomped his feet, “I said your castle is dumb!” _

_ Tired of not getting a reaction out of her, the boy groaned in frustration and started stomping all over her castle, making it crumble down to nothing.  _

_ Before Handong could rip the boy a new one, Minji yelled “Hey! That’s not nice!”, before kicking the boy and throwing sand on his face. _

_ The boy cried out and wiped his eyes, making matters worse as he couldn’t get the sand out of his eyes. _

_ “Run!”, Minji took Handong by the hand and pulled her away from the boy, making themselves scarce before an adult could come over to berate them. _

_ They ran and ran until Minji made them hide inside one of the playground structures. _

_ “Why would you do that? I had everything under control!”, Handong crossed her arms and glared at Minji, who didn’t seem bothered by it if her smile was any indication. _

_ “He ruined your sandcastle! He deserved it!”, Minji crossed her arms too, the smile falling from her face, “And whenever we come to the park he looks at you weirdly, you just never noticed cause your face is always buried in your books”. _

_ Handong had to admit that the sight in front of her was funny, Minji seemed to be trying her best at looking mad but her two front missing teeth and her huge glasses just made her look kind of adorable. _

_ (Something that Handong would never admit out loud). _

_ “Besides, we’re friends”, Minji smiled once again. _

_ Handong raised an eyebrow, “Who said we’re friends?”. _

_ Minji shrugged, “My mommy, and she never lies”, Handong just shook her head at her statement, “Besides, you need someone to watch your back from dumb boys like that one”. _

_ “I can take care of myself” _

_ “But you’re a princess! Princesses need someone to protect them!”, Minji’s eyes went wide, “Like a knight! I can be your knight!”, Minji stood up from her place and placed her hands on her hips. _

_ “I am not a princess, though”, Handong pointed out. _

_ “Yes, you are one, cause you’re  _ really pretty” _ , Minji said as if that was a well known fact. _

_ This whole conversation seemed ridiculous, but Handong had to admit that it was nice to be wanted by someone like this; in all her 8 years of life she had never had a friend, so maybe, just maybe, being Minji’s friend wouldn’t be that bad. _

_ “Besides”, Minji sat down next to Handong and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, “since we’re friends I’ll always have your back”. _

_ “Okay”, was all Handong could say before Minji knocked her to the ground with her hug. _

_ “We’ll be best friends forever” _

_ And Handong didn’t know why, but something about Minji’s excited voice made her believe in her words. _

* * *

Silence reigned for a moment as they both stared at each other, Handong being once again tormented with memories from her past while Lisa could only stare at her with worry in her eyes.

Handong let out a shaky breath, her eyes dropping to Lisa’s lips, “Lisa?”

“Yes?”, Lisa asked tentatively as Handong’s face got closer by the second, her eyes also falling to the other’s lips.

“Please make me forget”, Handong whispered as she rested her forehead against Lisa’s.

“We said we’d stop doing this”, Lisa whispered back, her eyes closing.

“Please…”

Though this was something they had already done several times in the past, Lisa didn’t want Handong to do something she’d regret later. 

“Are you sure?”, she asked.

“Yes”, was the only response Lisa got before Handong pressed her lips against hers, falling into a dance they both knew by heart. 

* * *

_ The one where it all went terribly wrong _

_ After several nights discussing what to do about  _ that _ particular night, Handong and Minji had finally agreed on something: they’d go to prom -just like Minji wanted- but would only stay for two hours before going to their favorite spot to watch the meteor shower -just like Handong wanted. _

_ If she was being truthful, the main reason why Handong hadn’t initially wanted to go to prom was because she  _ refused  _ to see Minji dancing on the arms of some dumb boy while she spent the night dateless because everyone in their high school saw her as someone unapproachable and weird. _

_ (She had heard the whispers going around, how everyone wondered how someone so bright and bubbly like Minji could be friends with someone as stoic and cold as Handong.) _

_ So to the surprise of no one, when prom came around Handong had been asked out by zero (0) people while Minji had seemed to have been asked out by the entire school population. _

_ Surprisingly, Minji had turned down every single person that asked her out. _

_ When Handong had asked her about it, Minji had just shrugged and said with a spark in her eyes that she was just waiting for the  _ right  _ person to ask her. _

_ For a moment, Handong thought that maybe Minji was talking about  _ her _ ; but then, the mere thought of it made Handong feel ridiculous, there was just no way on earth that Minji felt something for her. _

_ They were nothing more than  _ best friends _ , right? That’s all they had been for the past eight years. _

_ Sure, for the past couple of years Handong had noticed how much Minji had changed, her two front teeth had finally grown back, she had lost some of her baby fat -though her cheeks were still adorably chubby- and she had finally grown into the huge coke-bottle glasses that she refused to get rid of. So what if Handong’s heart stuttered in her chest whenever Minji smiled brightly at her? Or when she took her hand? Or basically whenever they did anything together? That didn’t have to  _ mean _ something, right? _

_ No matter how hard she had tried to deny it for the past years, Handong had to admit that  _ maybe  _ she felt something more than friendship towards Minji. _

_ But the thought of Minji feeling something for her too? That was so far-fetched, impossible, it just couldn’t happen in this lifetime or the next. _

_ Handong wouldn’t let her thoughts fall into that rabbit hole, although lately it had gotten harder and harder for her since Minji just seemed to be a little more affectionate, a little more attentive, just  _ more _ in general lately towards her. _

_ Had Handong had imagined the way Minji’s eyes ran all over her body the last time they had gone to her family’s private beach house? Maybe there had been something on her body, like a bug or scratch, that made Minji look at her like  _ that. 

_ Or the time Minji had stopped talking to her for a few days after the daughter of the Zhao’s, Xiaotang, had given her a drink during the last gala they both had attended. Had Minji been jealous of the attention Xiaotang had given her? No, that didn’t sound right. Maybe Minji had just been busy or something. _

_ Then this whole prom thing came around, messing more with Handong’s head. _

_ Minji just seemed so insistent that they should go together, that it’d be “ _ the night of nights” - _ Minji had said before bursting in a scarily accurate rendition of  _ A Night to Remember-,  _ that prom night was an experience that they shouldn’t miss. _

_ And well, who was Handong to refuse when Minji looked at her like  _ that _? With a smile that could surely light the darkest places on earth, with those eyes that shined like the night sky that they loved to watch together. _

_ While to any other event they’d have gotten ready together, for this one Minji had insisted that they should get ready at their respective places and meet at school, that she had a surprise for her. _

_ Handong didn’t even know what Minji would be wearing to prom, the other girl had just asked her what she would be wearing to make sure they would match; but other than that, she had been uncharacteristically mum about her outfit. _

_ Prom night had finally arrived and Handong was waiting outside for Minji to arrive, she fiddled with her dress one more time, worried if what she had picked for the occasion was appropriate (and if it would hopefully render Minji speechless at the sight). _

**_[minji 💕]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ meet me at the main entrance _

_ Handong checked her messages with Minji, nervously making sure that she was at the place she should be at. _

**_[dongie 💖]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ where are you??  _ _  
_ _ people are staring at me weirdly 🙄 _ _  
_ _ i think they’re just jealous of how good i look (8 _

_ Handong sighed as her messages went unanswered, Minji always texted her back quickly, no matter the day or the hour; and whenever she was going to be busy with something, she would let Handong know beforehand. _

_ As the minutes turned into double digit numbers, Handong couldn’t help but worry, maybe something had happened and that’s why Minji wasn’t answering. _

**_[dongie 💖]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ you are worrying me _ _  
_ _ what’s going on? _ _  
_ _ if you don’t answer in the next five minutes _ _  
_ _ i’m going to your house _ _  
_ _ prom be damned _

_ Handong tapped her heel against the ground nervously, with every second that passed with no response her anxiousness grew. She was about to give up on waiting for a response and calling her driver to take her to Minji’s house when the skies suddenly opened and rain started pouring down, leaving Handong with no choice but to enter the school. _

Maybe Minji is already inside? After all she did say she had a surprise for me,  _ Handong thought as she walked down the hallway that led to the gym, where prom was being held. _

**_[dongie 💖]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ if you’re already inside _ _  
_ _ and forgot to tell me _ _  
_ _ i’ll bet you up _ _  
_ _ … _ _  
_ _ just kidding lol _ _  
_ _...maybe _

_ There was something weird going on, Handong thought as she made her way inside the gym; and her worries were confirmed when as soon as she entered, everyone turned to stare at her, the gym falling into silence. _

**_[dongie 💖]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ where are you? _ _  
_ _ i’m at the gym _ _  
_ _ everybody is staring at me _ _  
_ _ i feel weird _

_ Handong started feeling self-conscious, was there something in her face? Had her dress maybe ripped? Why the hell was everyone staring at her? _

_ Then the whispers started. _

_ “What is she doing here?” “We don’t want someone  _ like her  _ here, what if she tries something?” “She’s too pretty to be a lesbian” “I heard she was taking advantage of Minji” _

_ Her whole world came crashing down, how did they know she was a lesbian? She had never told anyone before, not even Minji. If everyone at school already knew, her parents would surely know soon too. Everyone was staring at her with disgust, like she was sick or something, tears welled up in her eyes but she would never give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry. _

_ Ignoring the ever growing whispers, Handong held her head high and turned around, going back where she came from, but instead of heading to the entrance she took a detour to the restroom, needing a few minutes to calm herself before calling her driver. _

**_[dongie 💖]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ i need you _ _  
_ _ where are you? _

_ Handong arrived at the restroom and checked that it was empty; releasing a relieved breath when it was, she dialed Minji’s number. _

_ “ _ The number you have dialed is not in service this time _ ”, the operator answered back at her. _

_ Confused, Handong tried again, getting the same result. _

_ With every call that failed to go through, Handong started to get more desperate, it was getting harder to breathe and the walls were closing in, she was on the verge of having a panic attack. _

_ When she heard footsteps coming closer, she hid herself in one of the cubicles, covering her mouth so as to not let out any sound. _

_ “Oh my god, can you believe it?”, she heard someone opening the restroom’s door. _

_ “I always thought there was something fishy about her”, another voice replied. _

_ “Poor Minji, did you hear she took advantage of her? I always knew no one would hang out with that witch willingly” _

_ “My dad is friends with Minji’s father and he told me that they had to move towns” _

_ At those words, Handong’s world came to a sudden halt.  _

_ “Really?” _

_ “Yeah, cause they think  _ she  _ did something to Minji and the poor girl is now traumatized”. _

_ “Let’s hope  _ she _ leaves this school too”, the girls said something else before heading out of the restroom but Handong couldn’t really focus on whatever they were saying. _

_ The next few minutes were all a blur to Handong, one second her driver had suddenly texted her to come outside and the next she was inside the car, watching the scenery go by. _

_ When she came back to herself, Handong tried to call Minji once again, but every single try went unanswered. _

**_[dongie 💖]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ minji? _ _  
_ **_(message failed to deliver)_ ** _  
_ _ i tried calling you but  _ _  
_ _ my call wouldn’t go through _ _  
_ _ please text me back _ _  
_ **_(message failed to deliver)_ ** **_  
_ ** _ i don’t know what’s going on _ _  
_ **_(message failed to deliver)_ ** **_  
_ ** _ minji please _ _  
_ **_(message failed to deliver)_ **

_ Tears ran down her cheeks with every message she typed and bounced back, tired of it, she told her driver to take her to Minji’s house. _

_ “I’m afraid I can’t do that Miss Han”, the driver said without taking his eyes off the road, “Your father wants you back home immediately”. _

_ “Please”, her voice broke as she pleaded, “Just for five minutes”. _

_ “Orders are orders, Miss Han”. _

**_[dongie 💖]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ minji? _ _  
_ **_(message failed to deliver)_ ** **_  
_ ** _ why aren’t my messages  _ _  
_ _ going through either? _ _  
_ **_(message failed to deliver)_ **

_ Thankfully, by the time they arrived at her house the rain had stopped falling, so Handong started to consider making a run for Minji’s house, nevermind that she was wearing a long dress and heels. _

_ But as soon as the front porch came into view, she saw her parents standing there, their faces void of any emotion. That could only mean one thing: something was wrong. _

_ Still, Handong’s thoughts were only focused in Minji. _

_ As soon as she stepped out of the car she told her father “I need to go to Minji’s” without hesitation. _

_ Her mother could only shake her head as her husband exhaled deeply before saying, “We have nothing to do with the Kims anymore. So you better forget about that girl soon”. _

_ Handong could only stare confusedly at her father, nothing he was saying was making sense, he loved Minji as if she was part of the family, “What do you mean?” _

_ Her mother wrapped an arm around her shoulders and guided her inside, his father following suit after them. _

_ “The Kims have betrayed us, Dongie”, was all her father said before heading to his office, slamming the door behind him. _

_ “Mom?”, Handong was now more confused that ever, what did her father meant with that? Ever since that business dinner more than eight years ago, both families had been inseparable. _

_ “We’ll talk more in the morning”, her mother guided her to her room, “let your father fix everything first”. _

_ Handong felt numb, nothing was making sense to her. She let her mother help her out of her dress and into some pajamas, not even moving when her mother started wiping her make-up off. _

_ Her phone rang and Handong quickly unlocked it, hoping that Minji was finally getting back to her. _

**_[unknown]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ you’re so disgusting _

**_[unknown]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ leave school already _

**_[unknown]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ i hope you die _

**_[unknown]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ creep _

_ Several messages coming from unknown numbers started arriving. All of them a variation of the same thing; Handong just couldn’t understand how someone could send her so much hate when all she did was exist. _

**_[dongie 💖]_ ** **_  
_ ** _ minji _ _  
_ _ i’m so confused _ _  
_ **_(message failed to deliver)_ ** **_  
_ ** _ i don’t know what’s going on _ _  
_ **_(message failed to deliver)_ ** **_  
_ ** _ i need you _ _  
_ **_(message failed to deliver)_ ** **_  
_ ** _ minji _ _  
_ **_you can no longer contact this number_ **

_ Where the fuck was Minji?, was all Handong could think about, with trembling hands she tried dialing Minji’s number one last time but what she heard next made her drop her phone to the floor. _

“The number you have dialed is not in service this time”.

_ That night Handong couldn’t sleep, her mind worrying about the possibilities of what was going on. Dark turned into light, the sun shining through the window she had forgotten to close, Handong rubbed her tired eyes and decided that she was going to the Kims house, not caring that it was the crack of dawn. She needed answers, she desperately needed to see Minji. _

_ Without making any noise, after she changed into some pants and a sweatshirt, she left the house hoping her parents wouldn’t notice, taking only her phone and wallet with her. _

_ Determined, she made her way to the Kims house, luckily the family had moved closer to the Hans as their business and friendly relationship progressed; she made it to the house faster than she usually did and when she got there, the feeling of hope that grew with every step she took vanished. _

_ A “For Sale” sign was pinned in the front yard. _

_ “No…”, Handong whispered before running to the door, knocking with all her might, hoping that this was all a weird dream and that Minji would open the door with her usual smile. _

_ But as the minutes passed and no answer came, Handong started getting more desperate, she wasn’t leaving this place without an answer. _

_ Looking under the welcome mat, knowing that Minji usually kept her spare key there no matter how many times Handong told her it was dangerous and that she should pick a better spot, Handong almost yelled in triumph as she found the key was still there. _

_ As she tried to open the front door, she noticed her hands were shaking, making it almost impossible to unlock the door. She took a deep breath to steady herself, still not losing that small ounce of hope that she was still holding onto, and opened the door. _

_ The key fell from her hand as she took in the space before her. _

_ The house was empty, as if not one soul had ever lived there. _

_ Minji was gone, she had left without a trace. _

_ Not giving up, Handong tried dialing Minji’s number one last time. _

_ “ _ The number you have dialed no longer exists”

* * *

Heavy breathing was all that could be heard in that office, both women’s energies spent after the passionate encounter they had just had. Thankfully, no one was around the office at this hour, the only witness being the moon and stars that could be seen from Handong’s office’s windows.

And as she basked in the comfort that being in Lisa’s arms gave her, Handong  _ really  _ started to think about the whole situation. 

How could she have been so blind? It’s not like one person could drastically change a lot from their late teens to adulthood, right? If she really thought about it, the only things that had really changed about Minji were that she had lost some weight, forgone her coke-bottle glasses and dyed her hair blonde. 

_ Well, she also got cockier with age _ , Handong thought; Jiu’s personality was definitely different to Minji’s but at the same time, it was not. _ She’s still so annoying though _ , she rolled her eyes.

And that’s when Handong realized that maybe that weird feeling she always got around Jiu (and whenever she thought about her) was because deep down she  _ knew _ , knew that the girl she had tried so hard to forget about and Jiu were one and the same; after all, you never forget about your first love. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you like it!! let me know what you think uwu
> 
> disclaimer: all mistakes are mine, english is not my first language.
> 
> you can also find me on  
> tw: @anothershipper  
> cc:/anothershipper  
> ☕: /anothershipper


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